CDC

Message from the Director of CDC’s Center for Global Health

October 24 is World Polio Day, and it is an opportunity for the global polio eradication community to renew its promise of a polio-free world for future generations. This year’s theme is “A Celebration of the Unsung Heroes of Polio Eradication.” There are many unsung heroes working to make polio eradication possible:  vaccinators, community volunteers, frontline health care workers, surveillance and laboratory staff, and civil society.

In 2016, the world saw the lowest ever number of wild polio cases with only 37. To date in 2017, there have been 12 polio cases reported from two of the three remaining polio endemic countries:  Afghanistan (7) and Pakistan (5). Since 1988, progress against polio has been strong and consistent, with cases reduced by over 99.99%. High-quality polio vaccine campaigns and innovative methods for reaching every child have restricted the virus and put polio eradication within our reach.

The progress made in polio control has been led by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a public-private partnership led by national governments with five core partners – the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Its goal is to eradicate polio worldwide.

CDC in Action

CDC experts are diligently working with partners to eradicate polio around the world. During World Polio Day we highlight some examples of the work done by the “unsung heroes” of this effort:

Featured Story

Unsung Heroes of Polio Eradication Since the launch of the GPEI in 1988, the number of polio cases decreased by over 99% due to the heroic efforts of everyone involved in the polio program and the sustained commitment of partners and donors. Of the many unsung heroes of polio eradication efforts, CDC provides direct support to three major programs: the Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP), the National Stop Transmission of Polio (NSTOP) Program, and the CDC polio lab. Learn more about the contributions and impacts of these programs.

Other stories include:

• STOP Goes Beyond Polio to Support Overall Immunization System Strengthening Around the World
• A Model for Success: Multi-country Response Stops Middle East Polio Outbreak

Videos

“Vaccinating Millions of Children in 4 Days”: Vaccinating children to protect them against vaccine preventable diseases like polio is crucial. In endemic countries where routine immunization happens at a lower rate than other areas of the world, additional strategies are used in efforts to vaccinate children. This video highlights the importance of supplemental immunization activities and the incredible efforts made by vaccination teams to vaccinate children.

Blog

Overcoming obstacles to polio eradication in Pakistan: Get a glimpse behind the scenes of polio eradication efforts through the eyes of a Rotarian who works to prevent this disease in her home country of Pakistan. Experience what it was like to work in an area that not only has security challenges, but was also riddled with misconceptions about the polio vaccine. Learn how these unsung heroes overcame obstacles to help Pakistan go from more than 300 polio cases in 2014 to less only 5 cases in just three years.

Other blogs include:

• Polio Eradication and Beyond: What the Polio Endgame Means for Public Health by Manish Patel, MD (CAPT, USPHS)
• Rotary and CDC – Partners in Polio and Beyond by W. William Schluter, MD, MSPH, Director, Global Immunization Division
• CDC Maintains Vigilance to Eradicate Polio in Northern Nigeria by Chimeremma Denis Nnadi, MD, MPH, PhD

Photo Essays

Polio Campaigns in Africa: In 2016 there were only 4 cases of wild poliovirus in sub-Saharan Africa, all detected in Nigeria, the last polio-endemic country in Africa. In an effort to reach and protect children unreached by routine immunization services, oral polio immunization campaigns are being conducted in several African countries, with support from technical staff from CDC’s Global Immunization Division (GID)/Polio Eradication Branch/Africa team. Also available in French!

At Work For Immunization: When planning for routine immunizations, mass vaccination campaigns in response to outbreaks, or supplemental immunization activities, it is important to get as many people involved as possible to reach every child. Female health workers often join immunization activities because they know that vaccines work to save lives.

CIDRAP

• An increase of 448 since its previous update.
• Of the total, 846 (65.2%) are pneumonic plague infections.
• The number of deaths rose to 102, up 35 since the last report.
• The case-fatality rate remained at 7.9%.

WHO

Director-General rescinds Goodwill Ambassador appointment

Over the last few days, I have reflected on my appointment of H.E. President Robert Mugabe as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases in Africa. As a result I have decided to rescind the appointment.

I have listened carefully to all who have expressed their concerns, and heard the different issues that they have raised. I have also consulted with the Government of Zimbabwe and we have concluded that this decision is in the best interests of the World Health Organization.

It is my aim to build a worldwide movement for global health. This movement must work for everyone and include everyone.

For me, what is important is to build political leadership and create unity around bringing health to all, based on WHO’s core values.

I remain firmly committed to working with all countries and their leaders to ensure that every one has access to the health care they need.

We must build bridges that bring us together and help us move forward in our quest to achieve universal health coverage.

I thank everyone who has voiced their concerns and shared their thoughts. I depend on constructive debate to help and inform the work I have been elected to do.

NY Times

• More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have battled terror, exhaustion and hunger to reach safety in Bangladesh since Myanmar’s army began a campaign of what the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing in late August.

• The new arrivals joined more than 300,000 Rohingya who had escaped in recent years.

• The number of people crossing the Naf River that divides the two countries has slowed to about 1,000 to 3,000 a day, down from a peak of 12,000 to 18,000 a day earlier in the crisis

• More than 300,000 children are among the Rohingya refugees.

• Hundreds of thousands of refugees were crammed on a strip of land that lacked roads or infrastructure to support the delivery of aid.
• 210 hospital beds available to support more than 900,000 people living with little access to clean water, sanitation or medical care
• The refugees’ situation is a “time bomb ticking toward a full-blown health crisis”:  Doctors Without Borders
• The United Nations food aid agency said that it had distributed food to 580,000 people since the crisis erupted, but that it had so far received less than one-third of the $77 million it needs to aid a million people over six months.

NY Times

“…..Government officials, opposition politicians, religious leaders and even local human-rights activists have become unified behind this narrative: The Rohingya are not rightful citizens of Buddhist-majority Myanmar, and now, through the power of a globally resurgent Islam, the minority is falsely trying to hijack the world’s sympathy.

Social media postings have amplified the message, claiming that international aid workers are openly siding with the Rohingya. Accordingly, the Myanmar government has blocked aid agencies’ access to Rohingya still trapped in Myanmar — about 120,000 confined to camps in central Rakhine and tens of thousands more in desperate conditions in the north…..”

NY Times

“…..one of the busiest hurricane seasons in years has overwhelmed federal disaster officials. As a result, the government’s response in the two biggest affected states — Texas and Florida — has been scattershot: effective in dealing with immediate needs, but unreliable and at times inadequate in handling the aftermath, as thousands of people face unusually long delays in getting basic disaster assistance…..One of the most significant problems FEMA has had in Texas and Florida is the backlog in getting damaged properties inspected. Contract inspectors paid by the agency must first inspect and verify the damage in order for residents to be approved for thousands of dollars in aid. FEMA does not have enough inspectors to reduce the backlog, and the average wait for an inspection is 45 days in Texas and about a month in Florida, agency officials said…….”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke5IXrAq3jY

REUTERS

CNN